# IronCalc

8 Hacker News commenters recommended IronCalc and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend IronCalc as a free, open source spreadsheet engine that is light and fast, with a low barrier to try it.

## Why people recommend it

- Light and fast performance (3 comments): "fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306189)) "IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189095)) "It's extremely light and fast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49235576))
- Promising spreadsheet alternative (3 comments): "I am pretty sure that in a year from now the world is going to have a fairly competent spreadsheet alternative." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49235089)) "This is a rabbit hole and a nightmare in Excel, so a big opportunity for us to get this right." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46266304)) "Looking at it and very excited." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47320125))
- Fully open source (2 comments): "I think TironCalc is a great open source project to work with Rust and Ratatui." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45832307)) "fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306189))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Microsoft Excel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-excel.md): 339 recommend
- [Google Sheets](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-sheets.md): 92 recommend
- [Lotus 1-2-3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lotus-1-2-3.md): 34 recommend
- [LibreOffice Calc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-calc.md): 32 recommend
- [Numbers by Apple](https://hackerapproved.com/p/numbers.md): 27 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "IronCalc", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ironcalc/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).